1 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE TECHNOLOGY AND CHEMISTRY 1. 1. WHAT IS ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE? This book is about environmental chemistry. To understand that topic, it is important to have some appreciation of environmental science as a whole Environmental science in its broadest sense is the science of the complex interactions that occur among the terrestrial, atmospheric, aquatic, living, and biolog Dological environments It includes all the disciplines, such as chemistry, biology, ecology, sociology, and government, that affect or describe these interactions. For the purposes of this book, environmental science will be defined as the study of the earth, air, water, and living environments, and the effects of technology thereon. To a significant degree, environmental science has evolved from investigations of the ways by which, and places in which, living organisms carry out their life cycles. This is the discipline of natural history, which in recent imes has evolved into ecology, the study of environmental factors that affect organisms and how organisms interact with these factors and with each other. I For better or for worse. the environment in which all humans must live has been affected irreversibly by technology. Therefore, technology is considered strongly in this book in terms of how it affects the environment and in the ways by which, applied intelligently by those knowledgeable of environmental science, it can serve rather than damage, this Earth upon which all living beings depend for their welfar and existence The environment Air, water, earth, life, and technology are strongly interconnected as shown in Figure 1. 1. Therefore, in a sense this figure summarizes and outlines the theme of e rest of this book C 2000 CRC Press LlC1 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, AND CHEMISTRY __________________________ __________________________ 1.1. WHAT IS ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE? This book is about environmental chemistry. To understand that topic, it is important to have some appreciation of environmental science as a whole. Environmental science in its broadest sense is the science of the complex interactions that occur among the terrestrial, atmospheric, aquatic, living, and anthropological environments. It includes all the disciplines, such as chemistry, biology, ecology, sociology, and government, that affect or describe these interactions. For the purposes of this book, environmental science will be defined as the study of the earth, air, water, and living environments, and the effects of technology thereon. To a significant degree, environmental science has evolved from investigations of the ways by which, and places in which, living organisms carry out their life cycles. This is the discipline of natural history, which in recent times has evolved into ecology, the study of environmental factors that affect organisms and how organisms interact with these factors and with each other.1 For better or for worse, the environment in which all humans must live has been affected irrreversibly by technology. Therefore, technology is considered strongly in this book in terms of how it affects the environment and in the ways by which, applied intelligently by those knowledgeable of environmental science, it can serve, rather than damage, this Earth upon which all living beings depend for their welfare and existence. Figure 1.1. Therefore, in a sense this figure summarizes and outlines the theme of The Environment Air, water, earth, life, and technology are strongly interconnected as shown in the rest of this book. © 2000 CRC Press LLC